Play X (Japan) (Proto) Online

You switch between jet and robot forms mid-battle, blasting through enemies with chunky, satisfying controls—like someone crammed a forgotten arcade mech game into a SNES cart. The sprites and synth-rock soundtrack make it feel way more polished than an unfinished prototype should.

File size: 39 bytes

Game Overview

Ever stumble across one of those "lost" SNES games that makes you wonder how it never got a full release? X (Japan) (Proto) is exactly that—a mech-action prototype from Argonaut that plays like someone mashed up Contra with a transforming Gundam toy. You’re swapping between jet and robot modes mid-level, blasting through enemies with this weirdly satisfying weight to the controls. The sprite work’s shockingly slick for an unfinished game, and the soundtrack? Pure ’90s synth-rock adrenaline.

It’s rough around the edges (obviously—it’s a prototype), but there’s something special about how ambitious it feels. Like, they clearly wanted this to be the SNES’s answer to arcade mecha games. If you’re into retro deep cuts or just miss when sci-fi games had this much chaotic energy, it’s worth digging up. The whole thing’s a time capsule of what could’ve been.